Claiming Trips Feb 2023

When I decided to chose “claim it” as my focus for 2023, I had no idea how awesome the year would be. 

The trip following the Gulf, flying to California, quick day trips and now a weekend in Cincinnati! And we are only halfway through the year! 

Not to diminish the horrific year 2022 was because losing my Dad was the worst thing to ever happen to me. And I still have breakdowns that crush me from time to time.  One day I'll actually deal with it, but not today. 

Today, I'm documenting the awesome Gulf Coast trip my friend D and I took in February of this year. We started in Panama City Beach, FL, amidst a horrific storm that scared the poop out of me. We had a hole in the wall hotel booked right on the beach and this storm was a doozy. We came in well after dark and had no idea the beauty we were overlooking until morning. So pretty. 

Obligatory stairs leading to beach pic

View from the hotel room

After leaving Panama City Beach, we stopped off for a quick look at Destin, FL. and discovered we were the youngest people by several decades. But it was still nice. Hopped back in the truck, drove through Navarre, Pensacola, and were welcomed into Alabama at the Baldwin Welcome Center. We drove over tons of bays and rivers (Blakeley River, Bay John, Mobile Bay, Chacaloochee Bay, Delvan Bay, Polecat Bay, Mobile River) until arriving at our next stop: Mobile, AL. 

Destin, FL, I think? 

At some point the amount of water you are driving across kinda freaks you out …

We loved Mobile and would have LOVED to spend more time there.  We basically stopped for a late lunch at Wintzell's Oyster House, which was also quite tasty. Our waitress helped us get out of town before the Mardi Gras parades shut down the streets so we could keep moving towards our next night's stay: Gulfport, MS. (On a side note, if D could have packed up that waitress and brought her along, he probably would have! haha)

Interesting decorations inside - great entertainment 

That first bowl of gumbo and he fell in love

One thing we both agree on, it's detours. So we'll take a random side trip with no second thought. We travelled through Biloxi and into Gulfport. Biloxi wasn't our favorite but to be fair, we saw it later at night and just zoomed through to get to Gulfport. It was another late arrival at our hotel in Gulfport so we really had no clue what our view would look like in the morning. It was stunning. At least, it was until I got a cracked contact stuck in my eye with horrific pain. 

View to wake up for

My pirate impression

This Waffle House may have the most beautiful view of all WHs. 

D found an eye doctor with insanely early hours that was willing to work me in first thing in the morning. THANK HEAVENS. It wasn't a fun morning but the doctor was able to remove the contact from my eye and I, very thankfully, brought my old raggedy glasses with me so we could continue to this trip.  Precision Vision will forever be my heroes. (I asked if a 1-hour glasses place could make me new glasses that weren't so destroyed... but she very delicately said probably not with my prescription.  lol). 

Super cool DR gets the chipped contact out of my eye! 

Once my eyeball was freed from the plastic slicing it, we headed on our way to the one location I was SO EXCITED to visit in person: Bay Saint Louis, MS! I had recently discovered a home cook on TikTok named Mississippi Kween and I just thought she was hilarious. And she lived in Bay Saint Louis. Let me tell you, no regrets stopping here and would love to take a trip back to fully explore. It is a beautiful place, super friendly, cute shops and just a place of love. We spoke with a girl in the ice cream shop we visited, and she shared with us growing up through Katrina. This town was totally wiped from the map. Completely. School, when it came back in, was held in military tents with volunteer teachers. The folks were living in those toxic FEMA trailers, and they tried to help each other rebuild to move back into real homes. It was very emotional to hear her story and try to imagine how this potentially changed an entire generation of folks. 

Adorable mural! Love it!! 

D hugging up on the Queen

Another lovely mural - such positivity! 

After D finally pulled me back into the truck and out of Bay Saint Louis, we headed over more water and into Louisiana! Bienvenue en Louisiane! First stop was a required photo in Covington, LA! Found an interesting mural to pose with before locating the restaurant I'd found on Google: New Orleans Food and Spirits. This was so delicious and surprisingly reasonably priced for the atmosphere. Very glad we found this place.  

More gumbo- and he still loved it! 

Covington, LA 

D's one request was to drive over Lake Pontchartrain... OH MY GOSH, it was so dang freaky. It felt like driving on the ocean or something - water as far as you could see. And since the sun was setting, it was even creepier! This trip lasted over 20 minutes and never have I ever been so thankful for solid land. 

This basically brought us into New Orleans for our next two nights' stay at the Hotel St. Marie. We chose a room with a balcony overlooking the street, an unexpectedly peaceful treat. Mardi Gras would be kicking off just after we left, so I worried there would be pre-festivities. Instead, we found a relatively empty city that gave you the heebiegeebies. We were ready to leave by the end of our stay in New Orleans.

You know we tried a few places for beniets or however you spell it. 

Loved the river right in downtown

Oysters in New Orleans … and he loved it!! Hahaha

Enjoying our balcony at the hotel

This view - so pretty 

We headed onto our next stop, slipping back over the border to Natchez, MS. We won't go into details about the lady offering D some special attention for the night... 

The mighty Mississippi River!

One of the workers at the eye Dr recommended this place. 

You won’t believe this, but D got gumbo hahahaha

Natchez is right on the river and the Louisiana state line, which is good because I needed to hop back into LA to see my PENPAL! That's right, at the age of 40-something I have a penpal that I'd never met. So we headed to Winnfield, LA, to see the super awesome R. for the first time. We met up at this unique diner that is run by residents in a drug/alcohol rehab to help teach job skills. Food was on point and the staff super nice and funny! I considered the visit to the diner a treat since I'd heard about it several times from R. 

My precious penpal R. and her husband, R2.

Enjoyed a delicious lunch 

We followed them to R2’s church where he pastors and on to the house where we visited for hours and hours. Who knew when we'd be able to see each other again, so this visit was going to count! An amazing experiece and visit - it seemed as if we'd been hanging out around her kitchen table for years, so comfortable and at ease.  A huge blessing on this trip. 

My non-biological family in LA! 

Slept again in Natchez before heading off to Tuscaloosa, AL, home of the ROLL TIDE Roll. And boy, did you know it. So cool seeing the school pride and support everywhere you looked. A tad bittersweet for me as I used to visit my close friend, Sherry, in Tuscaloosa. Her husband recently passed away and she moved closer to her family in West Virigina. We stopped to get gas and i immediately recognized the gas station as one I'd been to several times before, on the way to and from her house. I had to call and I updated her on all the businesses that opened since she'd left. 

Someone was tired of photos 

Our reason for going through Alabama centered around the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum. Unsure of what I'd find or how it might be perceived, a pasty white woman walking into a civil rights museum, but I can say the experience exceeded all my expectations! I highly recommend going and taking your school age children. They did a great job on the musuem.

All these AA churches, many of which are still in use. 

I believe this was a church that was set fire and killed 4 young girls. Horrific. 

Alabama also brought us the best gift yet - BUC-EES! My first Buc-ees experience and WOW what an experience! Loved it, loved the Buc-ees swimsuits and ties, stuffed animals, tshirts, shorts, etc. Everything with that buck-toothed beaver on it. I haven't broken down and tried a brisket sandwich yet, but I want to! Next time maybe. 

And then we arrived back home, exhausted and still wearing glasses thanks to the shattered contact. So many amazing memories with my super good friend, D. I never traveled like this before him and the job change and I'm very thankful for the opportunity.  <3